WOMEN’S BASKETBALL : Stanford Stops Leslie and Teaches USC a Lesson

PALO ALTO —  Welcome to Stanford women’s basketball, Cheryl.

That seemed like the message Stanford’s women’s basketball team tried to impart to USC and its coach, Cheryl Miller, Thursday night at Maples Pavilion, routing the sixth-ranked Trojans, 80-50.

With four games left in the Pacific 10 Conference race, USC’s lead was reduced to one game in the loss column. The Trojans are 12-2, followed by Stanford and Oregon at 10-3, and UCLA at 10-4.

Miller, however, bounced back aggressively from only her third defeat (USC is 19-3). She shocked everyone in the interview room by predicting, in effect, that her team would go from here to the national championship.

“From this night on,” she said, “we are not going to lose again and I’m not just talking about the conference.”

Was she actually predicting an NCAA championship. . . . after this ?

“You can take that statement and make that into anything you want,” she replied.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer was asked for a reaction.

“Well, we just play ‘em one at a time,” she said, grinning.

Thursday night, before 5,595, Stanford denied USC All-American Lisa Leslie the ball--she had just 8 points and 10 rebounds--and Anita Kaplan stepped up and had a career game, scoring 34 points.

She was 17 for 26 from the floor, but in one key second half stretch, virtually every shot she attempted rolled, bounced or tumbled in.

After she scored 20 in the first half, leading the Cardinal to a 40-27 lead, Kaplan made six consecutive shots to help extend Stanford’s lead from 49-34 to 71-42 with 6:22 left. Twice, the Cardinal (16-5) had a 33-point lead.

Leslie had a career game the last time they met, scoring 34 points in an 81-73 Trojan victory Jan. 30 at USC. Now, it was Kaplan’s turn. Leslie didn’t take a shot Thursday until seven minutes into the game.

“Our plan was to deny Lisa the ball, not let her dominate us inside like she did the last time,” VanDerveer said.

“We tried tonight to show them that what they saw last time was not Stanford basketball.”

UCLA 90, California 85--Natalie Williams scored 43 points at Berkeley to lead the Bruins to their fifth consecutive victory.

The 43 points are the second highest in school history. Denise Curry, now a Cal assistant, once scored 47 points for the Bruins. Williams, who made all 12 of her shots in the second half, also had 15 rebounds.

UCLA (15-8, 10-4) trailed, 74-62, with six minutes left, then outscored the Golden Bears, 28-11. Kim Robinson led Cal (8-15, 2-11) with 23 points.